The International Longshoremen’s Association is suing to block efforts by port officials in Virginia to improve efficiency at facilities in the state by increasing automation and incorporating new technology.

The union representing East Coast dock workers has filed suit against the Virginia Port Authority over its plans to use the new technology to move cargo without consulting the union, as required in its new contract.

The powerful union has long fought automation to protect jobs, but that has brought lower efficiency and bottlenecks at American ports. Automation, which allows goods to flow through the ports quicker, is used much more widely at facilities in Europe and Asia.

Ports at New York and New Jersey, for example, are only able to move about 58 containers an hour because of manpower restrictions imposed by the unions. Some ports in Asia, meanwhile, are able to process an average of 79 to 113 containers an hour using the automation technology. 

The longshoremen signed an extension to their contract in March that covered 45,000 longshoremen at 36 East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. The new contract came after a three-day strike in October over pay and concerns about automation.

The president of the union, Harold Daggett warned port officials, “I will cripple you” if they didn’t capitulate. They did, and the six-year contract gave union workers a record 62 percent wage increase along with promises by port officials not to improve efficiency at the expense of manual labor.

The union says the new agreement gives it “full protection against automation.” The agreement requires a “thorough review process” by ports requiring advance notification, consultation, and joint assessment with the longshoremen union before introducing any new automation technology.

The breach-of-contract lawsuit against the state agency and its CEO was filed in the Virginia Eastern District and it alleges a violation of the collective bargaining agreement with the port’s plan to install semi-automated rail-mounted cranes to move cargo.

The Port of Virginia is undergoing a long-term plan to boost capacity at Norfolk International Terminals. World Cargo News reported in April that the first of 36 semi-automated stacking cranes had been delivered as part of a $150 million contract. It is one of less than a half-dozen ports in the country that has at least semi-automated terminals, the APM Research Lab reports.

“The Port of Virginia has been the most resistant to complying with the new technology provisions when compared to every other port on the East and Gulf coasts,” the court filing states.

The suit seeks an injunction to prevent further deployment of any similar equipment. A spokesman for the Port of Virginia declined to comment to The New York Sun due to the pending legislation.

A union-funded study in 2022 claimed that automation at ports did not provide any efficiency or productivity gains. But critics warn that if American ports don’t increase automation the supply chain will not remain competitive with the rest of the world. “It will happen, whether it is in two years or 20 years, otherwise as a country we can’t keep up,” an industry consultant, Jon Monroe, previously told the Wall Street Journal.